Some of the films, actors and directors featured at the 42nd Mill Valley Film Festival, set for Oct. 3-13 in Mill Valley, San Rafael and theaters throughout Marin. Courtesy images.

Once Mill Valley's little hometown secret, theMill Valley Film Festivalhas long since graduated to being a landmark stop on Hollywood's festival circuit. As organizers unveiled the lineup for MVFF's 42nd edition today, it quickly became clear that its star continues to rise, with an array of star-studded marquee screenings of likely Academy Award contenders and a whirlwind of spotlights, tributes, special premieres and appearances that will leave cinephiles' heads spinning. In total, MVFF42 will screen 111 features and 98 shorts, including 13 world premieres, 10 North American premieres and 10 U.S. premieres.

“As different as they all are, the films at MVFF have a few things in common: They entertain and have something to say in creative ways; they connect us all as people, despite our differences; and the emotions and ideas they express are universal in nature," ​​MVFF founder and executive director Mark Fishkin wrote in introducing the lineup.
​Here's a roundup on the 42nd Mill Valley Film Festival:

Opening Night: Just Mercy – Oct. 3

In Monroeville, Alabama--To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee’s lifelong home—African American Walter McMillian, played by Oscar winner Jamie Foxx), was sentenced to death for killing a white woman in 1988. A real-life, modern-day Atticus Finch in the form of recent Harvard Law grad Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) challenged a corrupt, racist system to free an innocent man. The standout cast includes Brie Larson, Tim Blake Nelson, and Rob Morgan. Both Fox, Nelson and Morgan are expected to appear. The 136-minute film screens at 7pm at both the CinéArts Sequoia & Smith Rafael Film Center​, with the MVFF42 Opening Night Gala to follow at Marin Country Mart in Larkspur. Here's the trailer:

Closing Night: Ford v. Ferrari & Motherless Brooklyn

James Mangold directs Academy Award winners Matt Damon and Christian Bale in this energetic, fully loaded biographical drama based on the remarkable true story of automotive designer Carroll Shelby and fearless driver Ken Miles. Ford v Ferrari details how an eccentric, underdog team of engineers battled corporate interference, the laws of physics, and their own personal demons to build the revolutionary GT40 race car for Ford Motor Company. Their purpose? To challenge the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans competition in France. The 152-minute screens on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 4:30pm at Smith Rafael Film Center. Mangold is expected to appear. Here's the trailer:

Edward Norton steps into the director's chair with an adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s acclaimed 1999 novel of the same name, an intricate, noir-ish story set in 1950s Brooklyn. When a deceptively routine case for a detective agency proves deadly, the team of gumshoes—led by Lionel Essrog, a man with Tourette’s syndrome and an uncanny photographic memory—dives head-first into their investigation, uncovering a dangerous coverup and high-ranking corruption within the elected city planning committee of Brooklyn. Norton's A-list cast includes Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Gugu Mbathaw-Raw, Cherry Jones, and Willem Dafoe. The 144-minute film screens at the CinéArts Sequoia on Sunday, October 13 at 5pm. Norton is expected to attend. Here's a trailer:

Centerpiece: Waves

Director Trey Edward Shults’ (Krisha, It Comes at Night) centers on the complicated family dynamics of three couples whose lives and loves hang in the balance. Catherine (Renée Elise Goldsberry, Altered Carbon) and Ronald Williams (Sterling K. Brown of This Is Us) have worked hard to build a comfortable life in Miami for their children Ty and Emily. When Ty’s girlfriend makes a decision that will permanently impact their futures, Ty reacts, with tragic consequences. The story shifts to Emily and her growing intimacy with classmate Luke (an understated Lucas Hedges). Saddled with the weight of unhealed family wounds, the two offer each other comforts neither can find at home. With a score by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Waves is an unflinching and delicately-crafted portrait of family and forgiveness. The 135-minute film screens on Wednesday, October 9, at 7pm at the Smith Rafael Film Center and again on Friday, Oct 11, 11:30am Sequoia. Here's the trailer:

Mind the Gap Award: Anna Serner

Recognized internationally as one of those in the forefront of the charge towards gender equity in film, Anna Serner has put her money where her mouth is. She was one of the first to commit to financing women’s and men’s films equally in her role as CEO of the Swedish Film Institute. A renowned speaker on this topic, Serner has commissioned several studies, including the recent “The Money Issue,” which is the theme for this year’s Mind the Gap Summit. In 2016, Serner presented the 50/50 by 2020 initiative at the Cannes Film Festival. The movement has spread, inspiring the 50/50 Pledge launched at Cannes in 2018, signed by numerous international film festivals including MVFF. In honor of Serner’s work, MVFF42 has an Eye on Sweden focus and will be presenting Serner with the Mind the Gap Award at the screening of Gabriela Pichler’s Amateurs on Friday, October 4, 6:30pm at the Smith Rafael Film Center.

Spotlight: Olivia Wilde

​Actress-producer-director Olivia Wilde soared onto the Hollywood scene in the early 2000s, starring in Alpha Dog, TRON: Legacy, Cowboys & Aliens, Butter, Drinking Buddies, Better Living Through Chemistry, and Her, among others, and recently received widespread acclaim for her directorial debut, Booksmart, a timely coming-of-age, whip-smart feminist comedy. Next up: a role in Clint Eastwood’s next feature and directing and starring in her sophomore film, a psychological thriller called Don’t Worry, Darling. This presentation will delve into the process of developing Booksmart and explore her distinguished acting career and her personal activism. Wilde will discuss her experience as a first time director and how her experience working with other directors— among them, Oscar winners Ron Howard, Stefan Ruzowitzky, and Paul Haggis—as an actor shaped her approach to Booksmart. Screening and Spotlight event is on Friday, October 4 at 8pm at the Smith Rafael Film Center.

Spotlight: Robert Pattinson & The Lighthouse

Robert Pattinson’s meteoric rise to stardom, launched by the juggernaut Twilight series, saw him opt to stretch his professional skills, leverage his status, and successfully embrace independent projects with a wide array of challenging roles from cinema’s finest auteurs including David Cronenberg (Maps to the Stars), Claire Denis (High Life), Werner Herzog (Queen of the Desert), James Gray (The Lost City of Z), and the Safdie brothers (Good Time). The Lighthouse is director Robert Eggers' anticipated follow-up to The Witch, enlisting Pattinson and Willem Dafoe for a Gothic thriller set on a tumultuous isle off the coast of New England. Shot on stunning black-and-white 35mm film and loosely inspired by the writings of Herman Melville and poet Sarah Orne Jewett as well as the diaries of late-19th century lighthouse keepers, Eggers sets the stage for a wildly impressive acting showdown between two powerhouse artists, who deliver riveting full-bodied performances that rank among the best of their careers. The 110-minute film screens on Saturday, October 5 at 7:30pm at the CinéArts Sequoia. Here's the trailer:

Tribute: Alfre Woodard, Clemency

Woodard is one of the most versatile and accomplished actors of her generation. Splitting her time between diverse roles on the big and small screens, her film credits include her Oscar-nominated turn in Cross Creek, Passion Fish, Love & Basketball, and 12 Years a Slave. Woodard won her first Emmy for Hill Street Blues and graced TV screens with recurring roles on True Blood, Luke Cage, and Desperate Housewives. In director Chinonye Chukwu's Clemency, Woodard plays prison warden Bernadine Williams, who has presided over many executions. When a presumably innocent cop killer is slated to die, she finds herself reaching a breaking point. This death-row drama—the Grand Prize winner at Sundance—is one raw nerve look at the toll that taking a life takes on everyone involved. The event features a screening of the 110-minute film, an onstage conversation with Woodard and the presentation of the MVFF Award on Sunday, October 6 at 5pm at the CinéArts Sequoia.

Spotlight: Kristen Stewart, Seberg

Kristen Stewart’s star was on a steady rise prior to the Twilight series pushing her career into overdrive, having appeared in numerous films since age 8, including Panic Room and Into the Wild. Stewart’s post-Twilight career has seen her achieve international acclaim, in films like Certain Women, Personal Shopper, Lizzie, JT LeRoy, and Clouds of Sils Maria, for which she won a César Award. In Seberg, Stewart transforms into tragic screen legend and fashion icon Jean Seberg, an American actress who became an instant international film darling following Godard’s Breathless and whose progressive political ties to the Black Panther party made her a person of interest for the FBI. Echoes of both the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements rattle beneath every sumptuous frame of Rachel Morrison’s (Mudbound) cinematography, as Seberg tries to stay afloat amid a Hoover-era surveillance operation run by a promising rookie agent. In English and French with English subtitles, director Benedict Andrews' 96-minute film screens on Monday, October 7 at 7pm, followed by an onstage conversation with Kristen Stewart and the presentation of the MVFF Award.

Tribute: Director Michael Apted, 63 Up

British director and producer Michael Apted is one of the most prolific and dynamic directors of his generation, known for the ongoing Up documentary series and lauded narratives Enigma, Coal Miner’s Daughter, and Nell. Up, Apted's evolving masterwork has now reached its ninth installation: 63 Up. Unique in the annals of cinema and cultural history, 7 Up was created for British television in 1964, intended as a program that looked at education in the class system in England. Apted has revisited the group of young people he documented at that time every seven years—with varying degrees of cooperation as these kids grew up. The 138-minute film screens on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 6:30pm, followed by a Tribute program featuring an onstage conversation with Apted and the presentation of the MVFF Award.

Mind the Gap Masterclass: Laura Dern

In a career marked by remarkable performances, from her indelible beginnings in Marin-based Smooth Talk (MVFF 1985) to her 2014 Oscar®-nominated role in Wild (MVFF Award 2014), Laura Dern is having a particularly incredible year. In this onstage conversation, Dern delves into her art as an actor, looking particularly at her most recent works. This year has seen: a reprise of her role as the deliciously intense, crazy-protective mom and tech honcho Renata Klein on Big Little Lies, a role which already won her both an Emmy and a Golden Globe; the compassionate but tough divorce lawyer in Noah Baumbach’s sublime Marriage Story (see below); and the ultimate mother of daughters, Marmee, in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. What’s notable in all these roles is that Dern has become the master of supporting roles—not just in awards jargon sense, but as an actor at the top of her game who delivers rich performances that demonstrate why she is such a revered and beloved actor: The program, set for Saturday, October 12 at 3pm at the Smith Rafael Film Center, ​will include the presentation of the Mind the Gap Award for Actor of the Year.

Spotlight: Director Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story

Writer-director Noah Baumbach is known for populating his films with a rich, eclectic mix of Hollywood stars and beloved character actors who vividly bring his characters to life. And with key players Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Merritt Wever, and Julie Hagerty in the mix, Marriage Story is no exception. Baumbach returns to the themes of his acclaimed The Squid and the Whale, offering another alternately funny and deeply moving snapshot of a marriage in its final stages. With divorce proceedings in full swing as the film opens, a married couple have promised to keep their separation amicable, but hurtful admissions and verbal spats quickly sour those ambitions. The 136-minute film screens on Saturday, October 12 at 6:30pm at the Smith Rafael, and Baumbach will receive the MVFF Award on behalf of the ensemble cast of Marriage Story—with Dern and others in attendance.

Tribute: Barbara Rush

A space-traveling scientist in When Worlds Collide, a mother fighting for her family in Nicholas Ray’s groundbreaking 1950s substance abuse drama Bigger Than Life, and a delectably diabolical villainess in the 1960s Batman TV series—these are just a few of the characters played with panache by acclaimed actress Barbara Rush. Few in Hollywood have had as diverse a career on both the big and small screens. Rush has excelled in genres as varied as drama, science fiction, westerns, horror, and comedy, and was featured in some of America’s most beloved television programs from the 1950s through the 1980s. She starred opposite legendary leading men like Paul Newman and James Mason and worked with celebrated directors including Douglas Sirk, Nicholas Ray, and Edward Dmytryk to name just a few. MVFF presents a tribute to Rush featuring trailers from some of her best-known Hollywood films and hear from Rush herself about her storied and eclectic career on Sunday, October 13 at 2pm at the Lark Theater.

Special Premieres

In addition to those highlighted above, MVFF42 also features a quintet of special premieres (from top left): Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo with Danny Trejo in person; The Great 14th: Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama in His Own Words by local director Rosemary Rawcliffe; Palm d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film The Truth; Blackbird starring Susan Sarandon and Kate Winslet; and British actor Simon Bird’s directorial debut Days of Bagnold Summer.​

MVFF42 also features ​screenings of a pair of landmark restorations: Thousand Pieces of Gold, director Nancy Kelly's beloved masterwork, a harrowing and inspiring tale of resilience, survival, and unexpected romance, as well as The Unbearable Llightness of Being,Philip Kaufman’s sweeping adaptation of Milan Kundera’s classic novel, once thought to be unfilmable. Kaufman and actress Lena Olin are expected to attend the event, set for Saturday, October 12 at 5pm at the Smith Rafael Film Center.

MVFF42's regular screenings also include The Irishman, Martin Scorsese's epic, 210-minute mafia tale of Frank Sheeran maintains ties with the Bufalino crime family and claims to have killed fellow Teamster Jimmy Hoffa.
​The 411: The 42nd Mill Valley Film Festival is Oct. 3-13 at venues in Mill Valley, San Rafael, Corte Madera and Larkspur. Advance ticket packages and passes are on sale now. CFI members can purchase single tickets in advance of the general public beginning Sunday, September 8. General Public single tickets on sale Saturday, September 14. MORE INFO & TIX.

"Free Solo" Directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin join climber Alex Honnold at an Oct. 8, 2018 screening of the film at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Photos by Kirke Wrench.

Free Solo is ostensibly a documentary about one man's quest to ascend Yosemite National Park's El Capitan – "the most impressive wall on earth" at 3,200 feet of sheer granite and "the center of the rock climbing universe," according to its subject, Sacramento native Alex Honnold – without ropes. At all. Read that again.

That death- and gravity-defying quest induced gasps and even shrieks from the audience at the CineArts Sequoia theater this week as part of the 41st Mill Valley Film Festival, where it screened prior to its wider release in the Bay Area and beyond next week. And it did so despite the fact that most in attendance likely knew the story's ending, as Honnold's unfathomable achievement drew coverage and attention across the globe.

But the gasps weren't reserved solely for physical marvels. Free Solo also serves up another slice of high drama. As Honnold, a self-described "dark soul" who wasn't hugged by his parents as a kid and never heard the word "love," readies his ascent, he also navigates his relationship with his girlfriend Sanni McCandless, who "pretty much makes life better in every way," he says. That sentiment is a leap from earlier in the film when he admits that because his free soloing demands a near-perfection attention to detail, "I will always choose climbing over a lady – at least so far."

From exchanges with McCandlessto interactions with directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, Honnold is blunt and seemingly devoid of emotion at every turn in the film. "If you're seeking perfection, free soloing is as close as you can get," Honnold says, telling McCandless about the "simmering resentment" that would come with letting their budding relationship impact his decision to embark on a quest that could lead to his death.

"Nobody achieves anything great by being happy and cozy," he adds.

Vasarhelyi, Chin and Honnold all appeared at the Oct. 8 screening and participated in a light-hearted Q&A after the film about Honnold's unfathomable achievement and the production of the film that captured it all.

As has been the case at previous Free Solo events, Honnold was once again asked about his next free soloing quest in the wake of his El Capitan feat, and he politely deflected. But Vasarhelyi chimed in by recounting Canadian free solo climber Peter Croft's reply on behalf of Honnold: "Would you ask Neil Armstrong what planet he would you go to next?"

The 411: "Free Solo" opens in Bay Area theaters next week, including at the Smith Rafael Film Center on Monday. Oct. 15. Here's the trailer:​

MVFF41, set for Oct. 4-14, will host on its Opening Night the U.S. premiere for Green Book, director Peter Farrelly's Viggo Mortensen- and Mahershala Ali-starring film about classically trained Black jazz piano prodigy Dr. Don Shirley and his white chauffeur and bodyguard Tony Lip as they embark on a 1962 concert tour of the American South.

Coupled with the previously announced Opening Night screening of A Private War, acclaimed documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman's first narrative feature film, which stars Rosamund Pike as the late American-born British war reporter Marie Colvin, MVFF looks likely to maintain its reputation as an event with a consistent slate of Academy Award contenders.

Both Farrelly, best known as the director, along with his brother Bob, who helmed comedy classics like There’s Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber, and Ali, who won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Barry Jenkins’ Oscar Best Picture winner, Moonlight are scheduled to attend to Green Book screenings, as well as the Opening Night Gala at the Marin Country Mart.

The film, A Private War, stars Rosamund Pike as the late American-born British war reporter Marie Colvin and is based on Marie Brenner’s 2012 Vanity Fair article “Marie Colvin’s Private War.” Colvin career spanned two decades and "pushed her to the top of her male-dominated field—a singular passion that jeopardized her personal relationships and her own health." She died in 2012 while covering the siege at Homs in Syria.

Pike, who was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for 2014’s Gone Girl, and Heineman, who was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary for 2015’s Cartel Land, and won the Directors Guild’s documentary award for that film and City of Ghosts, will both attend the screening, as well as the Opening Night Gala at the Marin Country Mart.

Movies in the Park closes its 2017 season on October 6 with Disney's “Moana,” the tale of a strong-willed Polynesian girl chosen by the ocean to reunite a mystical relic with a goddess. She seeks out the legendary demigod Maui. The Moana screening is part of the 40th Mill Valley Film Festival, which runs Oct. 5-15.

Set for Tuesday, Aug. 15 at 7pm, the vinyl-centric event looks to transform the "Squaresville" vibe of the Library's Creekside Room with a gather-'round-the-turntable musical trip down memory lane. Mill Valley Music owner Gary Scheuenstuhl will be on hand with his formidable vinyl record collection, and attendees who want to bring a favorite song on vinyl are invited to play them for the crowd – and talk about why they love the song. Refreshments and lava lamps will be provided.

Over the past decade-plus, the Mill Valley Film Festival has made its name on a handful of attributes: an incredibly eclectic selection of films from all over the world; an almost eery ability to showcase films that end up garnering Academy Awards; and celebrity appearances by actors and directors to receive tributes and to accompany awards-worthy screenings.

For its 39th edition, set for Oct. 6-16 in downtown Mill Valley and at venues all over Marin, MVFF organizers have once again knocked it out of the park in the first two categories – and set the bar at an all-time high in the third.

The roster of celebrity appearances at MVFF39 starts with one of the biggest names in show business: Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman, who will appear in person to receive a tribute to her career on Oct. 9, when she will present her latest film, “Lion.”

The lineup also includes a pair of actresses well on their way to having Kidman-esque careers in Hollywood: Emma Stone, who will appear at a screening of “La La Land,” the widely acclaimed musical from director Damien Chazelle (“Whiplash”) she stars in with Ryan Gosling; and Amy Adams, who stars in the equally lauded science fiction film “Arrival” from director Denis Villeneuve (“Sicario”). Both actresses headline their respective Opening Night screenings on Oct. 6.

MVFF39 also features appearances by actors Ewan McGregor (“American Pastoral,” director and star), Gael García Bernal (“Neruda”) and Aaron Eckhart (“Bleed for This”) as well as groundbreaking filmmaker Julie Dash (“Daughters of the Dust”) – all of whom will sit down for onstage conversations after the screening of their films. as festival honorees.

“When you look at turning 39 and heading into our 40th year, the amount of energy and change and innovation we’re doing with this festival is extraordinary,” MVFF founder and Executive Director Mark Fishkin said in unveiling the lineup earlier this month.The festival closes Oct. 16 with the hotly anticipated “Loving,” Jeff Nichols’ film “Loving,” the tale of an interracial couple that fought for the right to marry, a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court in 1967. Nichols and actors Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga will appear in person at the screening, which will be followed by a Closing Night Party at Cavallo Point.

The 38th Mill Valley Film Festival wrapped up Sunday night with multiple screenings of of Suffragette, the story of the women who were foot soldiers in the fight for the right to vote in the early 20th century, ordinary women who risked their jobs, homes, children and even their lives. MVFF38 also concluded with a raucous closing night party featuring music from the Monophonics and the Crackerjack DJs at Terrapin Crossroads, the spacious live music venue and restaurants perched on the canal waterfront in San Rafael.

The evening capped 11 days of sold-out screenings that drew more than 68,000 filmgoers, far surpassing 2014's then-record attendance of 61,000. The festival included myriad acclaimed filmmakers and special guests, including MVFF Audience Award winners and likely Academy Award contenders Spotlight and Room, as well as tributes to actors Sir Ian McKellen, Carey Mulligan, Sarah Silverman and Brie Larson and appearances from directors Tom Hooper, Tom McCarthy, Catherine Hardwicke and Cary Fukunaga with their films the Danish Girl, Spotlight, Miss You Already and Beasts of No Nation, respectively.

Festival organizers said the event drew more than 68,000 attendees to its Marin venues.

“This was an amazing eleven days for film lovers, music enthusiasts, and members of the industry,” said Mark Fishkin, Founder/Director of the Mill Valley Film Festival. “We are so proud to be a festival that filmmakers—both local and international—return to year after year to present their films to our sophisticated and influential Bay Area audiences, who love to see and nurture these new works. With the beautiful backdrop of Marin County and a relaxed, non-competitive atmosphere, the Festival gives filmmakers and audiences alike the opportunity to share their work and experiences in a collaborative and convivial setting. It’s gratifying to hear others say ‘It’s a festival second to none’”.

“The response to our women’s initiative, Mind the Gap, has been incredible—with engagement across the Festival," added Director of Programming MVFF Zoë Elton. "MVFF has had a long-term commitment to women in film, but in this year’s program we’ve upped the ante in the conversation about women, work, and film. Our goal was to step up and model what a film festival can do: We celebrated women creators from around the world in films; we produced panels, tributes, an exhibit on Ingrid Bergman, and an installation on female role models. These events and programs galvanized audiences and filmmakers alike to engage in an issue whose time is now. Mill Valley has been a-buzz!”

MVFF38 also featured a pair of classic films: a free screening of the The Wizard of Oz in Old Mill Park in Mill Valley, and a sold-out screening of Return of the Jedi_, preceded by a costume contest and two sneak-peek trailers of The Force Awakens, which hits theaters in December.

On October 18 at the Mill Valley Community Center, the non-profit, all-volunteer organization founded in 1973 to present exceptional classical musicians in Mill Valley at affordable ticket prices is set to be honored with the Vera Schultz Award at the annual Milley Awards ceremony. In addition to its concert series, the organization introduces classical music to children through outreach programs presented in Marin County schools.

One week earlier, the Chamber Music Society kicks off its 42nd season with the internationally acclaimed Cypress Quartet, a group that has recorded more than 15 albums and had its music featured in the original Netflix series House of Cards. The group has been praised for its “artistry of uncommon insight and cohesion,” (Gramophone) and “tender, deeply expressive” interpretations (The New York Times). The Oct. 11 "Cypress Quartet & Friends" program includes Brahms: Sextet No. 1 in Bb, Op. 18; Glazunov: Noveletten; and Schoenberg: “Verklaerte Nacht.”The Chamber Music Society's 2015-16 concert series also features:

The 411:Mill Valley Chamber Music Society concerts are at 5 p.m. Sundays at the Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church at 410 Sycamore Avenue. Single tickets are $18 for youth and full-time students and $35 general. Season subscriptions options include $120 per person for all five concerts or a mini-subscription for $90 for three concerts. All subscribers receive a complimentary ticket to the annual Marin Music Chest Young Artists Concert in May 2016. More info and buy tickets.

Sarah Silverman and Josh Charles in "I Smile Back," which screens at the 38th Mill Valley Film Festival. Courtesy image.

Over the course of her 23-year career, Sarah Silverman has drawn widespread acclaim as a stand-up comedian and as an actress in both TV (The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers) and film (The Aristocrats, School of Rock), largely on her ease – and willingness – to make the uncomfortable funny.

But in the intense addiction drama I Smile Back, Silverman looks to make the uncomfortable simply discomfiting, playing attractive, intelligent suburban wife and devoted mother of two Laney Brooks, whose seemingly picture-perfect life belies the fact that beneath the façade she's ridden with depression and disillusionment that send her careening into a secret world of reckless compulsion.

Ih her portrayal of Brooks, Silverman displayed such dramatic chops that she'll be honored with the Mill Valley Award during a Spotlight event at the 38th Mill Valley Film Festival, which runs Oct. 8-18.

After I Smile Back debuted at Sundance Film Festival in January, Silverman drew rave reviews, with Variety's Scott Foundas declaring, "Rarely has a performer striven so concertedly to shed any trace of his/her comedy roots as Sarah Silverman does over the course of I Smile Back, an addiction drama in which the acerbic comedienne gives the kind of warts-and-all, let-it-all-hang-out (body parts, fluids, etc) turn that awards' consultants dreams are made of..."

The Mill Valley Film Festival screening of I Smile Back, a film adaption of a novel by Amy Koppelman, will be followed by a line on-stage Q&A with Silverman and a presentation of the MVFF Award.

Raised in New Hampshire before attending New York University, Silverman joined comedy juggernaut Saturday Night Live in 1993 as a writer and feature performer. She's garnered two Emmy Awards and a Grammy nomination.

The 50th edition of the National Football League's championship game – the biggest sporting event in America – is set for February 7, 2016 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. The Super Bowl 50 Host Committee is celebrating Mill Valley in its "50 Perfect Hours" series, highlighting the likes of Mill Valley Market, Mill Valley Inn, Sweetwater Music Hall, OSKA and many more.

Here's the lowdown: The 50th edition of the Super Bowl, the National Football League's championship game and the biggest sporting event in America, is set for February 7, 2016 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. The Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, which is raising the money to put on the Super Bowl and managing all of its planning and production, is celebrating some of the top destination towns and cities in the Bay Area, hoping to get attendees of the big game to spend extra time here before and after.

The committee tasked San Francisco writer Katie Morell with creating digests for a series called "50 Perfect Hours." To date, she's highlighted places like Palo Alto, Pebble Beach, Napa Valley and Walnut Creek. In her story, which has since been picked up 7x7 Magazine, Morell describes Mill Valley as "an idyllic town of 14,000 residents with tons of green spaces and leafy downtown streets filled with one-of-a-kind shops, art galleries and restaurants perfect for strolling at any time of day.... Mill Valley is a magnet for tourists from around the world, many of whom want to move immediately following a visit."

For the past decade, the Throckmorton Theatre has been one of the favorite Bay Area haunts for big time comedians. Throughout June, many of the famous funny people who have graced its stage – and many who haven't – will be on the vaunted venue's walls, as acclaimed Bay Area photographer Dan Dion showcases his "Legends & Superstars" work.

Over the past two decades, Dion has earned the respect of nearly every major comedian in the business, from Jerry Seinfeld and Steve Martin to Dave Chappelle, Jay Leno and Mill Valley's own late Robin Williams.

"I love what I do because I know that what I'm doing is creating an archive, a collection, a document of comedy," Dion says in the Weekly Flickr. "I've been doing it for 20 years and I'm not a comedian myself, but this has allowed me to become a respected part of their community because they respect what I do it and I love it."

“Legends & Superstars” will also include portraits and performance photos of Johnny Cash, Lily Tomlin, John Lee Hooker, Cheech & Chong, Don Rickles, Beck, Stephen Colbert, Debbie Harry, and many more. He will also, for the first time ever, be exhibiting his 360-degree panoramic photographs of vintage venues from the Bay Area - The Paramount, The Warfield, The Fillmore, The Fox, and the Purple Onion. Dion was the house photographer at the Fillmore in San Francisco for 20 years.

In addition to exhibiting Dion's "Legends & Superstars" work throughout June, the Throckmorton ishosting a wine reception for Dion on Tuesday, June 2 from 5–7pm as part of the First Tuesday Artwalk. More info.

Award-winning local artist Sharon Paster has exhibited her work all over Mill Valley and Marin over the years, including the Seager Gray Gallery, Throckmorton Theatre, RubyLiving Design, Noci Gelateria, the Depot Bookstore & Cafe and many more.

Now it's the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center's turn to showcase paster's oil paintings throughout the month of June, with a wine reception on June 2 (6–8pm) as part of the Mill Valley Arts Commission's First Tuesday Artwalk.

The monthly celebration of local art includes a host of venues, including the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Seager Gray Gallery, the Mill Valley Public Library, Zener Schon Contemporary Art, Gelateria Noci, Julie Tuton Boutique, Terrestra, the Depot Bookstore & Café, City Hall, Famous4 and the Mill Valley Community Center, Seager Gray Gallery and the Throckmorton Theatre. Receptions at each venue are Tuesday from 6–8pm. First Tuesday Artwalk Guide with venues and a map.Paster has dubbed her exhibit "Some Things We Know," hoping to convey a state of possibility, "where everything in the atmosphere pulsates with life, on the verge of movement and change," she says. "My paintings are not about what is seen, they are about the forces of energy that surround us. How one motion affects the next is a continuing source of fascination for me.""I’ve been exploring abstraction more and more over the years, but–even with my representational pieces–I am focusing on the vibration of matter and how our world exists right on the edge of chaos, in almost constant flux," she adds. "I'm definitely inspired by the water and landscape that surrounds me in Marin County. That’s why retaining a sense of gestural animation in my work is important to me. Paster's studio is in the historic ICB in Sausalito. She graduated as a painter from Brandeis University in 1976 and has been painting since the age of 13, "after falling in love, as a toddler, with the smell of turpentine in my grandfather’s basement studio in the Bronx," she says.

Paster represented locally by Mill Valley-based Stephanie Breitbard Fine Arts, which is opening a gallery on Montgomery Street this summer and is known for its roster of contemporary, affordable artists.

After 11 days, dozens of star-studded events and hundreds of film screenings, the 37th Mill Valley Film Festival drew to a close Sunday night, and it did so with panache.

Actress Laura Dern, who has "been engaging audiences with her entirely unique and wholly authentic screen presence" since the mid-1980s, was the guest of honor. Dern appeared at a screening of her latest film, Wild, in which Reese Witherspoon stars in this adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s best-selling memoir, a striking account of the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail trek she undertakes to grieve the death of her mother (Dern) and help give closure to a troubled past.

Dern, the daughter of celebrated actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd and the star of such films as Mask, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Rambling Rose, Jurassic Park, and Citizen Ruth, was the subject of a tribute and held a Q&A session after the screening

After that event, hundreds turned out for the Closing Night Party at Maple Lawn Estate at the Elks Lodge in San Rafael. The party featured live music by Danny Click and cuisine from Sol Food, Theresa & Johnny’s Comfort Food, Big Jim’s BBQ, and West End Cafe, among others.